Child monitoring and video/audio devices for child monitoring are well known in the art. Audio devices that transmit a baby's cries to a remotely placed receiver, within ear shot of the child's parents, have been used since the 1970's. Technology continues to produce ever increasing and clever inventions to keep parents informed of the status of their children either through visual means, audio or both.
The use of such technology and electronic media has increased exponentially with the increased availability of cheap and inexpensive video and audio monitoring technology over the past 5 to 10 years. Effective monitoring of children during early childhood has become a paramount concern to parents and the market has sought to address this concern with numerous devices. One drawback to modern monitoring technology and equipment is that it is often very expensive to the average consumer and also, difficult to set up for effective monitoring of children in their typical household setting. One instance in particular, in which parents have virtually no capability of monitoring their children is during transport of the child placed in his or her child's car seat during car travel.
Federal and state regulations require that infant car seats face backward and as such, parents, most often driving alone, are unable to view their child to any extent whatsoever during periods of vehicular travel. Accordingly, parents are unable to ensure that children are free of choking hazards and are generally safe from any potential hazards. Moreover, it is not generally feasible and overall, an unsafe practice, for parents to pull over to the side of a highway in order to check on children. As result, parents often resort to taking their attention from the road and to checking the welfare of their children by turning around to view their children in the backseat.
The prior art is replete with systems and methods that seek to effectively quell the concerns of parents in providing video monitoring devices. For example, “Electronic Baby Remote Viewer”, U.S. Patent Publication Number 2009/0091617 to Anderson describes a babe remote viewer that includes a digital camera lens, a digital viewing screen, a zoom feature and a zoom activation button. The digital camera lens is described as configured for mounting into a position adjacent to a region to be viewed, with the region to be viewed located at some distance remote form the user of the electronic babe remote viewer. The areas to be viewed, as described therein, can be an infant's crib in a bedroom or in a car seat mounted into the rear seat of a vehicle.
The digital camera is described as being configured in a unit that is separate from the digital viewing screen, with the digital screen being configured to be portable so that a parent may take it to any location and be able to monitor the child from that location. The device however suffers from the inability to direct the video camera in a desired direction. Further, the invention is merely a video camera and provides no entertainment to the child.
Also, U.S. Patent Publication Number 2009/0290021 to Rudesill et al., for a “Rear Seat Passenger Surveillance System”, describes a rear seat passenger camera and display system for use in an automobile. The application further describes mounting of the camera on the headline panel on the interior of the vehicle compartment with mounting in a substantially central location of the vehicle compartment, the lens of the camera pointing downward to view the entire compartment of the vehicle. As described therein, the camera consists of a miniature video camera mounted in the rear of the vehicle so that it will point toward the back seat where a child is seated in a child's car seat.
The application further describes a separate video component comprised of a 2 to 4 inch monitor screen built into or position on the dashboard of the vehicle. Although the application describes mounting in a central or rear location, the device is described as being mounting the camera in different positions throughout the vehicle compartment. The invention however, suffers from the shortcoming that the two components, the camera and the video display, must be hard wired in order to function, with a wireless element not described therein. Further, the camera, as in the Anderson device, cannot be adjusted to a desired direction. The number of mountable positions in a vehicle compartment is typically very limited and the device must necessarily be mounted in one of the few positions within the vehicle in order to effectively monitor the child in the back seat. Furthermore, vehicle types vary in the number of available mounting positions and the device suffers from an inability to accommodate every vehicle equally effective. The present invention describes among other claimed elements, the ability to use a flexible “neck” in which the camera can be directed in any direction in the vehicle compartment without the need of physically mounting the camera in any particular position in the vehicle. Further, the Rudesill device like Anderson, fail to provide entertainment value to the child with a decoratively camouflaged camera device.
Finally, United States Patent Publication Number 2009/0174774 to Kinsley, “Video System for Viewing Vehicle Back Seat”, describes a portable video system for viewing a vehicle back seat which has at least one swivel or rotatable camera encased in the soft frame of a transmitting unit that is mounted in the interior of a vehicle. The application further describes the device as consisting of a transmitting unit which includes a USB and a video display screen, and a reflecting mirror or other stimulus within its frame that consists of speakers and volume control.
The camera is transmitted to a receiver and viewable by a display screen located within the driver's view. As with the other devices described above, the invention lacks the ability of customized adjustment within the compartment of a vehicle and to direct the camera and camera lens to any position within the vehicle. In this and other inventions, the camera can be mounted in only a few positions within the vehicle, which in many instances, won't provide the proper perspective to view the child at all times. Likewise, the Kinsley device fails to provide an aesthetically pleasing view for the child.
Modern safety measures and statutes require young children to be secured in the backseat child's seat and in the case of infants, child safety seats are typically rear facing. This requirement prevents the parent or caretaker who is driving to be able to fully monitor the child. In such a scenario, the driver ends up turning around continuously to check on the child or attempt to soothe the infant. Taking their eyes and hands off of the road to tend to the child creates a driving hazard and is extremely unsafe. A more efficient alternative is needed. The invention described herein, addresses this need.